NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed suit Wednesday against 14 foreign exchange dealers it alleges were engaged in illegal currency trading.
The filings are the first flexing of new regulatory muscle afforded the agency under provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill and the 2008 Farm Bill that went into effect in October.
The suits allege that the firms illegally solicited members of the public to engage in foreign currency transactions, and that they operated without being registered with the CFTC.
The regulatory body filed the enforcement actions in Federal District Courts in Chicago, the District of Columbia, Kansas City and New York.
According to the CFTC, the complaints seek civil monetary penalties, as well as trading and registration bans.
The firms caught in the sweep:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 15,318.23 | 138.38 | 0.91% |
| Nasdaq | 3,482.18 | 30.05 | 0.87% |
| S&P 500 | 1,651.81 | 12.77 | 0.78% |
| Treasuries | 2.18 | 0.01 | 0.51% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pfizer Inc | 29.40 | 0.24 | 0.82% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 7.32 | 0.10 | 1.39% |
| General Electric Co | 24.33 | 0.56 | 2.36% |
| Bank of America Corp... | 13.27 | 0.06 | 0.45% |
| Microsoft Corp | 34.98 | -0.02 | -0.06% |
|
Google says it wants to disclose when the government sends data requests like those in the newly discovered Prism program. More |
Bipartisan Senate reform bill would likely reduce deficits by $175 billion over first 10 years and by roughly $700 billion in the second decade, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says. More |
Google says it wants to disclose when the government sends data requests like those in the newly discovered Prism program. More |
Thinking about starting a business? These 10 states saw more startup activity than anywhere else nationwide, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. More |
Total costs for health care services, including everything from doctor visits and prescription drugs to surgeries, are expected to rise 6.5% in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act fully kicks in, according to a report released Tuesday. More |
.
How to hide from the NSA
